Racial slurs accompanied abuse, witnesses claim

Friday

Feb 8, 2013 at 3:15 AMFeb 8, 2013 at 11:46 AM

By Samantha Allensallen@fosters.com

DOVER — Racial slurs were uttered when a New Durham woman allegedly assaulted and starved a young boy in her home, witnesses said on the third day of a child abuse trial in Strafford County Superior Court, set to continue for the next few weeks.

One witness testified on Thursday, Christina Thomas, the woman on trial, allegedly paddled the bottom of the victim's mother while yelling racial epithets and at other times, called the child names based on his race.

State witness Brian “Jeff” Strouth, 41, who had a relationship with a cousin of Thomas, said when visiting the Birch Hill Road home in New Durham he could hear Thomas beating the mother and calling her names in another room. He said he also heard Thomas call the young boy a slur, and saw her place him in a dog kennel.

On the first day of this trial, Deputy Strafford County Attorney Alysia Cassotis warned the jury some of this testimony would play out like a “Lifetime (television) movie,” and it would become clear many people let the victim down in this case by not reporting the acts sooner.

Several people testified Thursday that when allegedly witnessing the boy chained to his bed, deprived of food, not fed for days and placed in the kennel in the basement for hours, none of them reported the incidents. Some confronted Thomas about the situation, but most said they dared not to because they were “too intimidated” by her.

The young boy, who is not being identified by Foster's, lived with his biological mother in Thomas' home from the time of his birth until he was about 6½ years old. His mother suffers from a developmental disability and placed herself and her child in the care of Thomas, who she knew from years earlier when they were teenagers, according to the county attorney's office and witness statements. Investigators say the assaults occurred from between 2006 and 2010.

Christina “Tina” Thomas, 33, of 214 Birch Hill Road, is on trial for first-degree assault, for allegedly failing to provide proper nutrition to the boy in this case, now 9 years old. Thomas was indicted in December 2011 and today, the child is in an open adoptive relationship with his biological mother and new adoptive family. He is recovering from when he was found at the age of 7, weighing just 23.6 pounds.

Thomas's mother, Peggy Starr, has also been charged with second-degree assault in this case for alleged abuse of the victim, and she is set to go to trial some time later in the spring.

Both women have been released on personal recognizance bail and ordered to have no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 16.

Cassotis said Thomas still has some simple assault charges and a felony criminal threatening charge against her, for her alleged abuse of the boy's mother as well, though there is a statute of limitations that allows the county attorney's office some additional time before trying those charges separately.

During a recess on Thursday, Cassotis said she believes all of these facts, particularly the ones indicating racial motivations at play, point to Thomas' “intent” to knowingly carry out her alleged crimes.

The state previously filed a motion to introduce “prior bad acts” in this trial, to demonstrate Thomas' alleged pattern of bad behavior, though typically that is not allowed.

So far, the state has called to the stand residents who say they saw one of Thomas' friend's children left unsupervised, who was standing in the middle of a road, and the biological mother testified a knife was held to her throat by Thomas, and her face was pushed into a cake pan when she was allegedly bullied by Thomas to consume the entire thing in one sitting.

Several of the state witnesses who testified said they were afraid of retaliation from Thomas' family for testifying, some saying they would not be there if they had not been subpoenaed.

Cassotis asked Strouth if he had “concerns,” to which he replied he feared “backlash” from the family.

Another witness, Jocelyn Crate, 30, testified Thomas' family descended on her Wednesday in the Dover court parking lot, calling her an “(expletive) home wrecker” for agreeing to take the stand. Crate said she lived with Thomas as well as her fiancée, Crystal Dufault, who also had a sexual relationship with Thomas at the time, in 2011. Crate also claimed she saw Thomas skipping and smiling inside the court this week, acting like “all is grand,” she said and had previously heard Thomas joking about the case and acting like she was not taking it seriously.

Thomas chewed gum during the third day of her trial, while her mother, Starr, sat rows behind her with another woman who was knitting throughout the day.

The Strafford County attorney's office is attempting to prove Thomas was in the primary care position of the victim at the time of these acts and she knowingly deprived the boy of food resulting in a “failure to thrive.” Previously, Cassotis said the removal of food was used as a punishment and the tactic was even written into the victim's Individualized Education Program (IEP) at the New Durham School which some paraprofessionals carried out for a short time.

The defense is arguing the state's witnesses all have “ax(es) to grind” when it comes to their relationships with Thomas and many are exaggerating the truth or lying. Defense attorney Steven Keable said in his opening statement Thomas took so many people into her home because she “has a big heart.”

In a line of questioning, Keable attempted several times to point out conflicting facts provided by witnesses in their testimonies as compared to statements previously given to investigators. He pointed to some who said they witnessed bad things happening to the child but never reported it. He repeatedly asked one witness, Melissa Hamel, why she “still liked” Thomas even after seeing her do bad things to both the young boy and his mother.

Some of the cross-examination grew contentious as some of the people who previously lived with Thomas said they owed a lot to her, and felt bad for speaking poorly against her.

“(But) I feel justice has to be done,” Hamel said, adding she heard from Thomas she only kept the boy and his mother in her home to allegedly collect money from the state.

Thursday's trial began with Thomas requesting a different attorney before Judge John M. Lewis prior to the jury being seated. She told the judge Keable does not have a “positive attitude” about her case and was forgetting to bring up facts she had provided him with earlier.

“I don't stand a chance,” she said.

Lewis encouraged Thomas to take a recess and have a “heart to heart” with her attorney about what to do moving forward, noting attorneys are not supposed to be their clients' friends. Thomas opted to stick with Keable after an approximate 30-minute break, and took the opportunity to call several recesses throughout the rest of the day to consult with him privately during witness' testimonies.

The case will continue today pending the outcome of a predicted snowstorm, and teachers and doctors are expected to be called to the stand later this month.